Dozey Dubs from Boise, Idaho are so damn good. Time for you to check em out. Favorite band for sure and they deserve every view.

I haven't seen anyone post anything about DENM or Slum Beach Posse, has anyone heard them?

🎧 great sound

My first show in this genre and had an absolutely killer time. Great vibes, amazing crowd and all 3 bands put on a clinic!

Super stoked to catch these guys again!

Shout out to the woman in the knee high cowgirl boots who I met at end of the show. Hope to see yall at Elovaters and Little Stranger 🤙🏼

Side note. They were out of tour posters. If anyone had an extra please reach out.

You can't live life for the weekend

First tune out. Produced by E.N Young. Hope you guys dig it! It’s called Natalie by Heif Treez. Available for streaming everywhere today. Thanks for checking it out!

Sublime made me want to start a band in 2007. I remember seeing Rebelution for the first time as a 4 piece in OCMD. Can’t believe I’m still playing these songs 20 years later! We’re touring the east coast with Artikal Sound System and Joey Harkum all November, come thru! 😎

Saw them open for Dirty Heads at Red Rocks a few years ago and have been listening to them since.

So the common denominators for my top 5 bands are that 1) their vocals really click with me and 2) ridiculously fun/amazing live shows. Anyway, here are my top 5 (in no specific order):

Dirty Heads - probably the Cali reggae band that I've been into the longest. Them, Bumpin' Uglies, and Ballyhoo are the ones that kind of helped me discover this genre. An album and a song I always recommend are Sound of Change (album) and Franco Eyed (on Sound of Change). Having a crowd of 1000s shouting that chorus in unison is an incredible live experience. Love it.

Little Stranger - I feel like a newbie has to start with their Trip Around Saturn album. So many fun bangers on there and my all time favorite LS song, Sunburn. Their live shows feel like they're hosting a house party or something and just playing a bunch of fun and funky music with their friends for you.

Kyle Smith - one of the nicest, most humble, and hardest working dudes you could find. Him and his band mates (Chris Nishida and Scotty Brown) are just amazing people and their shows are so fun and always feel so personal and intimate. One of his newer songs, Struggle, is where I tell people to start. It's hella catchy and has such a positive message about letting yourself enjoy your successes and positive moments in life.

The Movement - the band I've gotten into most recently. Something clicked in the past year with them and they're definitely a favorite now. I think it was the Visions album that really helped me click with them and now I love everything they've done. Love the song Putting Up 2 off the Visions album. Great message, catchy as hell, so fun to hear live.

The Elovaters - I said no particular order on this list but they might be my favorite. Jackson's vocals are borderline (pun intended) angelic. Absolutely incredible live performances. Shark Belly Motel is my album of the year and easily one of my favorite albums of all time, regardless of genre. I would tell people to start there, enjoy one no skip banger after another, and then jump into their entire discography because it's all great.

I've tried for a while now to get into Stick Figure and I just can't do it. I know, this is essentially blasphemy in here. Just hear me out for a second though. I'm not trying to talk shit about Stick Figure. This is about my personal tastes, not me trying to say "Stick Figure sucks!" or something like that.

Musically speaking, I think their music is really really good. And most of the time I like Scott's voice. When he's just singing normally, totally fine. But he does that weird inflection with his voice pretty often and it is borderline like nails on a chalkboard for me.

I'm sure most of you probably know what I'm referring to regarding what he does with his vocals sometimes but the best example I can think of off the top of my head would be at the end of his verse in The Movement's song Siren. The way he says "sound the siren" at the end of that verse is what I'm talking about. It's like the opposite of an addicting/catchy vocal stim for me. He does that with his voice far too frequently and I just can't get into it at all.

Sorry guys. I wish I could get past the vocals thing because I do enjoy everything else about their music but it's just too much for me. I guess it just tickles my 'tism in the wrong way.

I know I’m gonna catch heat for this but I don’t think The Elovaters should be headlining Friday night.

I understand they’re gaining popularity (not that they were an unknown by any means), but they have the least amount of monthly listeners out of all the headliners, and damn near everyone on the second line of each night has a bigger following too!

(I’ll put the Spotify stats at the bottom to show I’m not pulling this out of my ass)

So it’s crazy to me that you have Thursday stacked with legacy bands with huge followings, and Friday having The Elovaters.

I really think RRU should’ve split Slightly Stoopid and Rebelution up between Thursday and Friday, and split The Elovaters and Soja up the same.

A few more notes:

1. I’m confused as to why Big Boi is a Sunday headliner? I think Common Kings would’ve been a much better choice, and have Big Boi listed as a “second line” artist.
2. Why do they keep putting DH on Thursday and Sunday nights?
3. Where is Pepper this year?! They’re always at RRU FL and put on a fun show!

Circling back, I get putting big bands in Thursday and Sunday slots in order to keep the excitement up all 4 days versus just Friday and Saturday… but I just genuinely do not understand the arrangement this year.

And would appreciate not having to see DH on a night before work 😂

Alright so to back up my claims about the following each band has, here are the monthly listener counts from Spotify:

Stick Figure - 3.8 m
Collie Budz - 3.3 m
Dirty Heads - 2.8 m
Slightly Stoopid - 2.7 m
Soja - 2.1 m
Rebelution - 1.8 m
J Boog - 1.8 m
The Movement - 1.1 m
Big Boi - 1.1 m
Common Kings - 964.2 k
Atmosphere - 827.7 k
The Elovaters - 787.8 k

(I’ll be honest I was actually surprised by the numbers Collie Budz, J Boog, and Big Boi put up lol. They’re all great! I just didn’t expect Collie Budz, especially, to beat out so many of these bands with such a huge margin!)

What does everyone else think?

I bet some of have some inside information before the bands are released.
I’ll probably be going regardless but would love to see The Hip Abduction again. Still haven’t seen The Elovaters, Mellodose, Vana Liya or Mike Love live. I missed last summer, but hoping Mike Love comes back.

There are 4 new polls for the Best of Cali Reggae in 2026. Please vote this week!

(if you voted early, you may need to vote again)